Travelling further with the Tuen Ma Line Phase 1
By Abbie Wong
On February 14th 2020, the Ma On Shan Line that we all knew was extended and rebranded as the Tuen Ma Line Phase 1. The extension affected the line south-ward and welcomed new stations Hin Keng and Kai Tak, with the preexisting Diamond Hill being introduced as an interchange station between the former stations.
As Renaissance College is located outside Exit A of Heng On Station, students and staff living near the new stations are greatly benefited by it and have new ways of getting to the school.
“[The MTR extension] was convenient since I [didn’t] have to change the lines,” says Year 9 student Edward Lee, who recently used the line to get to Diamond Hill. “The benefits of the extension [are] simply much faster and convenient, basically more efficient.”
As the “Phase 1” in its name suggests, the future of the Tuen Ma Line will also connect the Tuen Mun region with the Ma On Shan region. After Kai Tak, new stations will include Sung Wong Toi and To Kwa Wan with Ho Man Tin and Hung Hom coming in after the latter, connecting with the West Rail Line and allowing interchange between the East Rail Line and the Kwun Tong Line once again.
The entirety of the Tuen Ma Line was originally going to open in 2019, but construction faults found in Hung Hom in December 2018 delayed the project and cost the MTR corporation billions of dollars. Since then, the MTR corporation has stated that it will be open in late 2020 or early 2021.
Apart from this, the Tuen Ma Line is also part of a two part project dubbed as the “Shatin to Central Link.” While the Tuen Ma Line is the first part of this project, the second is an expansion of the East Rail Line, extending to the new Exhibition Centre Station and the preexisting Admiralty Station, making it a “mega interchange station” as described by the MTR Corporation.
Additionally, the Tuen Ma Line will have twenty seven stations and its tracks will span fifty seven kilometres East to West upon its full opening. In regards to station quantity and track length, it will be the longest and largest metro line on the MTR system. In comparison to the other lines, the lines with the most stations have seventeen of them, while the longest in track length spans 41.5km from North to South.
Hong Kong residents can look forward to taking full advantage of the new branches and explore more of this wonderful city.
